AMD Ryzen 5 Pinnacle Ridge 2600 OEM (YD2600BBM6IAF)

Still one of the best processors on the market

Not the newest, but still pulling absolutely everything, the processor, which continues to be in the tops of sales. And this is despite the release of new, more advanced models from AMD under the code name Matisse.

6 physical and 6 virtual cores

The reason for the success is simple. For its $150 Ryzen 5 2600 offers the user 6 physical and 6 virtual cores with a boost up to 3.9 GHz and a decent cache margin of 16 MB. For the average person who likes to play the conventional Witcher, work with spreadsheets, or run demanding highly specialized software for working with a variety of photo, audio and video content (i.e. Adobe Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve or Ableton Live), the available performance is enough for the eyes. It's largely because of the incredible success of the Ryzen 5 2600 that Intel had to deviate from its "6 cores is a lot" manta. No, not much, just right.

To infinity and beyond!

In addition, it starts up without any problems on old motherboards with an AM4 socket, and on newer versions. It has modest power consumption and more than adequate operating temperatures. A nice bonus to all of the above is a very good overclocking potential. With high-quality cooling and a motherboard that is friendly with overclocking, this processor can be accelerated to 4.3 GHz. And this is another plus of 10 — 12% to productivity, actually for nothing. Intel found an adequate answer only in 2020 in the form of the i5-10400, but the price tag is much higher there, so you need to compare it more with the Ryzen 5 Matisse 3600X.